it all starts with a kiss
by Kayla Chavi
Summary: Kouga likes Kagome. Kagome likes Inuyasha. Inuyasha continues to be angst-ridden. This love triangle was too fun to leave unscathed. Reposted--please see profile as to why.


It All Starts with a Kiss

by Kayla Chavi

Rating: R

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This will be slowly reposted throughout the next few weeks. For an explanation as to why, please read my profile.

"What do you mean you're going off alone with him?"

Kagome sighed softly and looked over at the person that Inuyasha was glaring at. Kouga was glaring just as fiercely at the hanyou. The young girl was standing between them with a forced look of patience.

"Inuyasha, I'm just going to say goodbye. Kouga-kun just wants to speak with me alone."

"He'll take you away and I'll have to come rescue you from him again."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Inuyasha, you're being childish. Nothing of the sort is going to happen. If it'll make you feel better, we're just going to be standing over there." She pointed to the line of trees that was about twenty feet away. "Besides, he helped you this time and you know it."

"That doesn't mean I have to let him have you alone. He still thinks you're his woman."

Kagome drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She looked as if she was attempting to calm herself. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked coolly at him.

"Osuwari."

She walked towards Kouga. The wolf youkai looked slightly impressed. "Nice to know that you have dog-boy on a leash." He took her hand and led her towards the trees.

Kagome laughed quietly at the image and leaned against the nearest tree. "It's the only power I have over Inuyasha," she said with a shrug. "That and I'm his tama detector."

Kouga growled softly at that and shook his head. "I don't understand why you stay with him. He's just a dog. He doesn't treat you with respect."

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Kouga-kun, the same could be said of you."

"If you stayed with me, my pack would respect you. You'd be the alpha female and my mate for life. I'd give you everything you'd ever need. Screw the shikon no tama, it'd only be important if it came our way. I'd protect you better than he does. I love you."

Kagome looked off to the side, staring at the flower-covered ground. "Is that all you have to say to me?"

Her voice was soft and her eyes slowly closed. A tear slid down her cheek. There was a part of her that wished that she could take his offer. Despite his rudeness and loud voice, he was a good leader and even had a streak of kindness. She didn't doubt his words or his feelings. She just wasn't in love with him.

"Kagome..."

She looked up at him. "I'm sorry, but Inuyasha is my protector. He has a big sword that can destroy mountains. He's nearly died to make me safe. I know there's a part of him that cares for me. He would die for me and right now, that's all that matters."

Kouga's eyes were confused and sad as she tried to force herself to smile. She leaned up and lightly touched his face before kissing his check. Kouga watched her for a second and then nodded. Without much of a warning, he leaned down to kiss her.

There was a strangled sound and Kagome pulled away sharply. Kouga's arms were around her waist and her hands against his chest. She looked for the source of the sound and her eyes widened when she saw Inuyasha crouched in the brush.

Slowly he stood and took a step towards them. "Get your filthy hands off of her," he growled.

"Inuyasha--" She cut herself off when she saw the look on his face. She tried to push away from Kouga but his arms tightened around her waist. She looked up to see him glaring at Inuyasha hatefully.

"You have no right to make that demand." Kouga sounded unconcerned with the growling hanyou in front of him. "She's my woman, I have the right to touch her."

"Kouga--" This time she was cut off by Kouga throwing her to the ground in order to shield her from the attacking Inuyasha. Kagome winced and watched as the wolf youkai barely avoided Inuyasha's attacks. She wanted to protest that she wasn't his woman, but the two males didn't look all that interested in listening to her. "Stop it!"

Inuyasha stopped when Kouga landed in front of Kagome. "You have no right to her, dog-face," Kouga smirked.

"Like hell," Inuyasha snapped. "She's my mate!"

"What?!"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"You have got to be kidding me?!"

"Just when did you two have the time to do this?"

By this point the entire group was watching the fight with interest. Miroku looked the most stunned of them all. He had been sure that Inuyasha was much too stubborn to ever initiate something that intimate.

"OSUWARI!"

"Damnit!" Inuyasha pulled himself off the ground. However, he didn't glare at Kagome, but kept his attention on the confused Kouga.

"I don't smell her on you or you on her," he said. "No blood either. No mark. She's not your mate."

"Her people think she's too young," Inuyasha argued. "I can't mate with her until later. I've made the intent claim, you can't argue with that." Kouga sniffed the air in Kagome direction and frowned.

"I still don't believe you."

"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. Kagome is my mate," he snarled. "Go take your wolfy ass and get out of here. I've already been too kind." He lifted his sword once more.

"Kouga-kun, please just go," Kagome muttered. The youkai looked at her for a moment.

"As my lady wishes," he said and glared at Inuyasha once more before taking off in a whirl of wind.

Kagome turned to Inuyasha and prepared to yell at him but stopped when she saw his expression. He looked at her blankly and then sheathed his sword. Without saying a word, he walked away from her.

Kagome took a step towards him but stopped. He looked rather hurt and upset. Perhaps talking to him wasn't that good of an idea. She looked over at Sango and Miroku who were both shaking their heads.

"How could you, Kagome?" Shippou finally asked. "How could you kiss that wimpy wolf?"

Kagome sighed softly. "It just happened," she muttered. "I didn't mean for it to."

Miroku walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. "You need to speak to Inuyasha about this, Kagome-sama." He began to gently push her in the direction of the hanyou. Kagome glared at the monk and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't have to speak to him about anything! He has no claim to me whatsoever."

"Kagome-chan," Sango looked at her gently, "Inuyasha called you his mate. That means something to a youkai. They take mating very seriously. The stronger more human youkai, like Inuyasha and Kouga, have all sorts of rules and traditions. You have to talk to him."

"But I'm not his mate!" Kagome stamped her foot on the ground like a child. Her frustration was very clear. "I can kiss whoever the heck I want to kiss!"

"That's not the point," Miroku said firmly. "The point is that Inuyasha has made a claim in front of another youkai who wants you to be his woman. It means something, Kagome-sama."

"It just means that he's not thinking straight. Inuyasha loves Kikyou."

"That may be true, but you are the woman that he protects. You are the woman that is in his life all the time. Inuyasha cares for you deeply." Sango smiled at her and gently squeezed her hand.

"My goodness it was only a kiss! There wasn't any tongue involved either!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "I would like to note that when I saw him and Kikyou kiss I didn't throw a temper tantrum or attempt to kill her."

"You just left," Shippou pointed out. "Like he did."

"Oh, so now I'm supposed look all conflicted and then ask why I can't have both?" Kagome shook her head. "It doesn't work that way."

Sango tilted her head and looked past Kagome's shoulder. "He's coming back," she announced. Kagome turned around, and sure enough, Inuyasha was walking back towards them. She was rather relieved to see that he had sheathed his sword, but his hands were clenched. He still looked very upset.

Inuyasha walked right up to her and clamped his hand over her wrist. Without saying a word he began to drag her away from the group. Kagome winced and struggled briefly. Miroku made shooing motions with his hands and Sango winked at her. Shippou continued to look at her sternly. Not even the kitsune youkai was going to help her out of this situation.

He pulled her off into the forest and didn't release her wrist. He didn't stop until they could no longer see the clearing. He stopped and then whipped her around to stand in front of him. Kagome gasped in surprise and looked up to see his golden eyes glaring down at her.

"Inuyasha, you're hurting me!" she tried to pull her wrist away, but he didn't let go. "Take me back, I don't want to be here."

"You don't want to be with me."

"That's not what I meant!" Kagome pulled once more and was surprised when he let go. She stumbled back and fell against the tree. He didn't move to help her stand or even look sorry that she might have hurt herself. "What is wrong with you?!"

"You don't want to be with me."

Kagome glared at him in silence. Finally she sighed, "What is this about, Inuyasha? Kouga? I didn't mean to kiss him, not that it's any of your business."

"It is my business. You can't just go and kiss that disgusting excuse for a wolf." He stuffed his hands inside his sleeves. If he wasn't careful, he'd be tempted to rip her to shreds. He balled his hands into fists and hid them.

"Like you can't just go and kiss Kikyou whenever you feel like it?"

"That's different."

"How in hell is it different?!" she exclaimed. She felt like she was about to start crying, but she forced them away. She knew he was helpless against tears and she didn't want to guilt him into anything. Not this time. "If you haven't noticed, Inuyasha, she's trying to kill me and drag you to wherever it is that she's supposed to be."

"I have noticed. And if you had been paying attention, I haven't kissed her the last two times we've seen her. It was just that once. I want to redeem her, Kagome, not mate with her."

"Could have fooled me," the dark-haired girl muttered and looked off to the side. "I'm over it, Inuyasha. She can have you. I don't care anymore."

"Have you ever considered that I don't want to be with her anymore? I don't want to be drug to hell, I don't want to mate with a corpse. Kagome, Kikyou is icy and cold. It would be painful."

"Some guys are into pain." She still didn't look at him. "Maybe I should just go home. Things are always better after we cool down."

"I don't want to cool down. I want to work this out. We don't have time to be childish anymore."

Kagome blinked and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. "Inuyasha," she sighed softly and reached out to touch his hand. "I don't know how many more serious talks we can have. We...let's just forget about this."

Inuyasha looked down at their hands and then shook his head. "Kagome, I can't forget this. I just told my competition that you were my mate. It doesn't just disappear like that."

"But I'm not..."

He shook his head again and his grip on her hand increased. "You are. Protection is the first step to a mating. I protect you and that means I've claimed you as mine. The second step is friendship. Youkai may be monsterous, but we are always friends with our mates. We don't always love, but we are friends. Third is physical." He took a deep breath before continuing. "We touch and combine our scents. Fourth, is blood. I make you bleed and vice versa. Fifth is the mark, normally it happens with the blood. Sixth...that's sex."

Kagome was stunned. For some reason, she knew he was simplifying it for her, there was more involved, but even just those six items were rather overwhelming. The gentle touch of his hand on her face broke her out of her stupor.

"Inuyasha...I...I had no idea..."

He gave a soft bitter snort of laughter. "How could you? You're not like Sango, who has to know these things in order to hunt youkai. You're not youkai and you're not a fully trained miko. There was no way you could have known. You're just a naive human girl."

"Oh," she bit her lower lip. "So are we at step two or three?"

"In the middle actually. I've also done something that isn't exactly traditional." He looked away, a faint blush on his features. "There is something called an intent claim."

Kagome nodded, "You mentioned that before."

"Sesshoumaru has made the same claim with the little girl that follows him around." Inuyasha looked down at her and met her confused and curious smokey blue eyes. "It means that when she's old enough that she'll be his. I've done the same...Here you are old enough, Kagome. But your mother would remove my ears if she thought we were anything other than close friends."

Kagome couldn't help but smile at that. Her mother was a very understanding woman, but she would not like it if she was sleeping with Inuyasha. Tentatively, Kagome reached up and placed her hand on the side of the inuhanyou's face. He tilted he head so he could kiss the center of her palm. She was surprised by the action and almost pulled her hand away. His fingers wrapped around her wrist and stopped her.

"I'm sorry I got so upset," he said softly.

She blinked at him. She hadn't heard correctly, Inuyasha couldn't be apologizing to her! The sun was going to start rising in the west now! He saw her stunned expression and wrinkled his nose.

"It's not that phenomenal," he muttered. He let go of her wrist and let her arm fall limply to her side. "I understand that you're how I act around Kikyou. She isn't my mate, Kagome. She never could be."

Kagome nodded weakly and watched as he turned his back to her. "Inuyasha!" she called after he had walked a few steps away. He paused but didn't turn around. "Does it go both ways?"

"Does what?"

"The mating. Does it go both ways?"

He blinked. "Of course it does, wench," he muttered. "It's a joining. Your claim to me is just as important as my claim to you."

Kagome nodded and then smiled slightly. She ran to catch up with him and slipped her hand into his. Immediately his closed over hers and they walked back to their friends. Kagome looked up at Inuyasha and smiled. May the gods forgive her, but she finally had something that Kikyou didn't.

She could use this to keep him alive.


End file.
